NBA: LeBron James wants to team up with me

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July 9, 2010, is a day worth remembering for both James and James.

Because on this day, James chose to publicize his decision to leave and join a group in the most prominent way possible.

On a live ESPN television show, James reflected for over half an hour, and after inserting interviews with many experts, he finally made his decision at 9:30.

"I've decided to bring my talent to the South Beach and join the Miami Heat."

As soon as this statement was made, it immediately sparked a violent uproar in the league.

Although there had been several signals that James was likely to form a Big Three with Wade and Bosh, many people still couldn't believe it before James made the official announcement.

Three superstars at their peak joining forces to compete for a championship—this was a unique event in NBA history!

Of course, the reason it's said to be unique is because Wang Chong obliterated the fact that the Celtics formed the Big Three in 2007, making the Big Three of the Heat the first "Big Three" combination in the league without Yuzhu, compared to the Big Three of the Green Army.

The league has never been short of super teams, whether it was the Lakers' Super F4 in 2004 or the earlier Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry in the Magic-Bird era, all of them were super teams formed by the association of multiple stars.

But this was still somewhat different from the Heat's Big Three. At least the lineups of those teams weren't formed out of nowhere. All were achieved through active operations and transactions after a long period of training and waiting.

But the Heat's Big Three was different. They simply acquired Wade, James, and Bosh in free agency at the same time, paying almost no price.

The combination of three superstars would have a completely devastating impact on the current situation in the league, especially for teams in the Eastern Conference, which had been suppressed by the Bulls. Suddenly, there was another super team, and the competitiveness became much more intense.

When Wang Chong heard the news, he felt somewhat disappointed.

James's previous actions and the changes in the league made Wang Chong think that James might join forces with Wade and Anthony. It was still uncertain whether James would join the Heat.

Unexpectedly, in the end, it turned out to be the Heat's Big Three formed by James, Wade, and Bosh.

As a time traveler, Wang Chong was very familiar with the Heat's Big Three. He was fully aware of the future strength changes, the team's technical characteristics, and playing style.

Even when they played, many players liked to challenge tough opponents for the sake of the challenge.

This was the same for Wang Chong now. He felt that he knew the Heat's Big Three too well. Even if he won, there would be no sense of achievement. On the contrary, if James formed a new Big Three, he would be even more successful. It was the desire for challenge.

But if he thought about it carefully, Wang Chong probably could guess why Anthony didn't team up with his Banana Boat brothers in the end.

The most likely reason was the salary.

In the formation of the Heat's Big Three, all three made sacrifices. For the team to sign all three at the same time, they all had to cut their salaries. James's starting salary of 17 million dollars was reduced to 14.5 million dollars in a contract renewal. In the case of a four-year deal, there was a loss of 10 million dollars. This was just pure salary, not considering the strong winds pulling them.

Anthony's reluctance to make sacrifices was understandable.

The later events also demonstrated the accuracy of Anthony's move. Although the honors he had received in his career were mediocre compared to James and even Wade, Anthony's career earnings totaled over 260 million, while Wade only had 197 million.

For the players themselves, what's the point of having a higher historical status? After retiring, what determines their quality of life is how much money they made.

Anthony earned 50 million more than Wade, that's a fact.

Of course, it's also possible that Anthony thought about it and couldn't accept this weak behavior of joining forces to compete for the championship at the top, so he decided to retire. Only the person involved knows the truth.

In any case, the formation of the Heat's Big Three became an established fact, and the free market activities continued.

Durant reached a preliminary contract extension agreement with the Celtics and stayed with them for five years and 85 million dollars. His new contract wouldn't kick in until the summer of 2011, so the next season he would still play under his rookie contract. The difference between Gasol and Gasol at the same period was enormous.

Dirk Nowitzki renewed his contract with the Mavericks for 80 million over four years.

The Mavericks in the 2010-11 season should be very strong. After all, they crushed the entire Western Conference and defeated the Heat's Big Three 4-2 in the finals. It's undeniable that the Mavericks' strength was quite formidable.

But the Mavericks are different now. Although most of the key players are still there, Jason Kidd is missing. Despite his poor personal performance, Kidd remains very important to the Mavericks, so can the current Mavericks still stand out from the West as they originally did? Wang Chong wasn't sure.

Joe Johnson renewed his contract with the Atlanta Hawks for a maximum salary of 120 million over 6 years.

Carlos Boozer signed a five-year, 80-million-dollar contract extension with the Utah Jazz.

Boozer, a well-known rebel in the league, should have gone to join the Bulls at this time, but Wang Chong's presence meant the Bulls didn't need him at all. The result was that after Boozer tested the free market, he found that the Jazz was still the best team for him and chose to stay.

Additionally, Phoenix Suns star Amar'e Stoudemire decided to join the New York Knicks for 100 million over five years, as originally planned.

The New York Knicks today are not the original Knicks.

The butterfly effect caused by Wang Chong allowed them to select Rose with the second pick in the 2008 draft.

There's no doubt about the strength of the youngest MVP in regular season history. In his rookie season, he defeated the number one pick, Beasley, and successfully won the Rookie of the Year award. Although he still didn't manage to take the Knicks to the playoffs that season, his personal stats were up to 22 points per game with 4 rebounds and 7 assists, definitely qualifying him for discussion as a top-tier point guard.

The Knicks, now owning Rose, have Stoudemire as well. As long as they randomly select some powerful players in the free market, they are sure to become one of the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference.

Don't forget that in the original 2010-11 season, Carmelo Anthony decided to actively request a trade and was later packaged and traded by the Nuggets and Billups to the Knicks, forming the Knicks' Big Three.

Now that Billups is with the Bulls, even if Anthony is traded to the Knicks, the lineup of Rose + Anthony + Stoudemire, as long as they stay healthy, would only be surpassed by the Bulls and Heat in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics with Durant and the Magic with Howard wouldn't be rivals.

The more Wang Chong looked at it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

The intensity in the East seemed too high.

The Bulls, Heat, Magic, Celtics, Knicks, if you include the Hawks and the Indiana Pacers, who will rise strongly in the next two years, there are at least 7 strong teams in the East. It's still the West that is strong and the East that is weak.

"Haha, this alliance is getting more and more exciting."

After a series of contract renewals, the turbulent league, which had been rocked by massive waves, finally calmed down a bit.

A few days later, the last big fish in the free market, Ray Allen, decided to sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder for 32 million over three years.

The predecessor of the Thunder is the SuperSonics, the team where Ray Allen once played. This move can be considered a return to his roots.

But there's a saying that Ray Allen has had quite bad luck. He joined the Cavaliers during his peak years. In the three years with the Cavaliers, he was completely reduced to the role of a spot-up shooter on the court. His stats dropped, and his stock plummeted. He's now 34, still at a good competitive level, but can only sign a contract worth just over 10 million.

And choosing to join the Thunder is essentially equivalent to giving up on competing for a championship. Everyone knows that the Thunder will never have a chance to compete for the title. This isn't the Thunder team with the three young players—Westbrook + Griffin, the highest ceiling in the Western Conference, it's only a second-round level team.

But there's no other way. Even if Ray Allen wants the championship, he's not willing to sacrifice so much for it.

Currently, several of the league's most popular teams are full of salary cap space. If he wants to join, he can only accept a mid-level contract.

A mid-level contract of 600 thousand dollars per year is simply humiliating for Ray Allen, who is still an All-Star. It's impossible for him to accept that.

After all, this season with the Cavaliers, Ray Allen averaged 18 points per game, and there's nothing to say about his personal strength.

With Ray Allen returning to the Thunder, all that remains in the free market are some insignificant role players, and the recruitment work for each team has basically been completed.

The Heat, which successfully introduced the Big Three and formed a super team, is undoubtedly the biggest winner in the league.

Not only the Big Three, but after acquiring them, the Heat fully utilized the attraction of competing for the championship with the Big Three and continuously signed several powerful role players to fill out the team's roster.

Udonis Haslem, James Jones, Mike Miller, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Juwan Howard, and other players have signed with the Heat. It's entirely possible to see Miami competing for the championship in the new season.

On the contrary, the Bulls haven't made any moves since renewing contracts with Gasol and Wang Chong.

Although everyone knows that as long as the Bulls keep their current lineup healthy, they will definitely be the strongest team in the league, and they don't even need to add anyone.

However, the Heat's recruitment efforts at full force still concern Chicago fans.

"The Bulls should also use winning the championship as a bargaining chip to accept one or two capable veterans. If they only sign veterans with the minimum salary, the team won't need to pay much salary."

Wang Chong didn't consider signing several veteran players with the veteran minimum salary because it wasn't necessary.

The Bulls' current lineup is very complete. The five starters are Curry, Billups, Wang Chong, Garnett, and Gasol, with the bench including Danny Green, Marcus Thornton, and Ty, that's enough, no need to waste time.

Moreover, in today's league, there really aren't many players that can be used with the veteran minimum salary, so there's no need to waste time on that.

However, what Wang Chong didn't expect was that while the Bulls were hesitant to take action, someone couldn't hold back and decided to come to the team to recommend themselves, going straight to Wang Chong.

Two people took the initiative to show up at the door. One was Tracy McGrady, also known as Tracy McGrady by Chinese fans.

McGrady contacted Wang Chong through Dayao, hoping to find a job with the Bulls, and said he was willing to accept a backup role and the basic veteran salary, just wanting to win a championship before officially retiring.

This attitude is very humble, but it's true that McGrady's skills at his peak were very poor and could not be considered an effective combat force on the court. Signing him wouldn't be a big help to the team.

But considering that the Bulls themselves have to assemble a 15-man roster before the start of the new season, who should they sign if the veteran minimum salary is unavailable?

Additionally, in Wang Chong's impression, in the 2010-11 season, after Tracy McGrady joined the Pistons with a minimum salary, he played well. He played 72 games and didn't have the injury issues from previous seasons. He averaged 8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. This level could be used in rotation.

As for O'Neal's call to join the Bulls, it was completely unexpected for Wang Chong, because O'Neal had said halfway through the season that he would retire after that season. Wang Chong also felt that with five championships in hand, it was a bit unbeatable. It wasn't surprising that O'Neal decided to retire.

But in the offseason, O'Neal still hadn't officially announced his retirement.

At first, Wang Chong still wondered why, but he didn't expect O'Neal to change his mind.

"Hey, I originally planned to retire after this season, but when I saw LeBron running to the Heat, I suddenly didn't want to retire. If I can personally prevent Miami from winning the championship, that would definitely be something to be happy about."

Upon hearing O'Neal's tone, Wang Chong realized that O'Neal still harbored resentment toward Pat Riley when he played for the Heat.

So the question was: Was O'Neal still useful?

The answer was, of course, yes. Even the Late Shark was still quite lethal in the paint.

In the original 2010-11 season, O'Neal chose to join the Celtics with a minimum salary. Although he was reimbursed for the season due to injury halfway through, O'Neal played in 37 games as a starter, averaging 20 minutes per game, contributing 9 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, and a 66.7% field goal percentage, which was quite efficient.

After all, the tonnage was there; no matter how old O'Neal was, no one could withstand that big butt pushed in.

The main concern with O'Neal was his body. As he grew older, his body became heavier, and his physical strength decreased, making it impossible for him to run back and forth on the court. At the same time, the slow O'Neal could only stand under the basket on the defensive side, which was still very useful.

But these issues would disappear completely as long as O'Neal's playing time was controlled between 10 and 15 minutes.

In short, it was definitely a very cost-effective option to let O'Neal play during the backup minutes and serve as the main offensive point in the paint to score points.

End of this chapter

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